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Cristiano Ronaldo will not be returning to Man United this summer, with manager Jose Mourinho admitting a move for the club’s former player has always been “mission impossible”.

Last month the 32-year-old Real Madrid striker became disgruntled as he felt singled out for disproportionate treatment by Spanish prosecutors, who accused him of evading tax of 14.7million euros (£12.8m).

Those allegations were denied in a statement by Ronaldo’s management company, Gestifute, and the player was believed to have told those close to him he wanted to quit both the club and Spain.

That stance seems to have softened and talk of a summer return to United – the club he left in 2009 – has dissipated.

“The most important thing for me was to compete. The second important thing was to feel the players on the pitch in a system where last season we only played twice.

“It is far from being our system but we were working over the last two days to try to improve, in case we decide during the season to play more matches with three at the back. So positionally it was good.

“We had the ball, we moved the ball well, we reached some good attacking positions and in the end the result is not the most important thing.”